Rik Catlow summarizes his five tenets of intuitive user interface design. I think it is hard to argue anything off this list but personally I’d reorder them like so:
- User Testing
- Nomenclature & Contextualization, Consistency, Beware of the Visual Arms Race
- Eliminate Redundancy
Why shift them around?
I’d bump user testing to the top because it is amazing how little of it is actually done. I’d also say in many cases the design team is handcuffed by a budget or executive team with little respect for the value of user testing. This needs to change, badly.
The web is a conversation. I’m not trying to be trendy here, I know it has been said before but it is 100% true; The language used on your site becomes a lexicon between you and your visitors. Consistent nomenclature used in contextually appropriate spots (while being mindful of redundancy) is what separates twenty boxy designs from one another. Keeping control of the “visual arms race” keeps the number of voices competing for your attention on your site to a minimum. That’s why #2,#3, & #4 stay where they were from the original list but I’m grouping them together into a very important #2 because it is an integrated process.
I bumped redundancy down to the bottom; it is a key value to keep in the back in your mind while designing but not a show stopper. In some cases an alternative means of interaction is exactly what an interface needs. It is a very fine line though and user testing is the primary method of determining when it is appropriate.